Learning Never Stops

  Strategy 4 : Near and Far Transfer Before we move on to the next strategy on designing concept-based lessons, please find links to the previous blog posts in case you want to read more about other strategies. Part 1: Classification Part 2: Representation Part 3: Generalization How is 'transfer' defined?  When learning in one context enhances  a related performance in another context. (Perkins and Salomon, 1992) The ability to extend what has been learned in one context to new contexts (Brandsford, Brown, Cocking, 1999)  The process of using knowledge or skills acquired in one context in a new or varied context. (Alexander and Murphy, 1992)   Now let us break it down to - Near Transfer - transfer between very similar but not identical contexts. Far Transfer -transfer between contexts that, on appearance, seem remote and alien to one another. Applying learning to situations that are quite dissimilar to the original learning. The strategy of near transfers m...

This post is the third of our blog post series on how to design lessons for conceptual understanding. Part 1 here Part 2 here Strategy 3 : Generalizations You may have come across Lynn Erickson's diagram on the structure of knowledge. In my IB workshop's I always like to present the avocado model alongside this diagram when I am talking about facts. The intention of inquiry-based teaching and conceptually-driven understanding (or Concept-based inquiry- whatever terminology suits your fancy)  is to enable students to make generalizations. In other words, can they transfer their learning to a new context because they have understood what they learnt.  In order to make generalizations, we need to first plan lessons that help students acquire facts/topics that are interesting  and worth knowing. Bringing in local and global issues that are relevant to the topic help students as they begin to compare the topics and see emerging patterns. Remember, facts and concepts have a syn...

  Strategy 2 - Representation     Source: ibo.org In this post, I will flesh out yet another research based strategy - Representation.   Check out my first post of this series here:   Part 1 Think of a concept, an idea. How many different ways can you represent it? First of all, before you can expect your students to show their understanding in different ways, don't forget to model it. For example, as you teach students the concept of subtraction, show them a variety of ways to get to the answer. Math Let us take 600 - 148 for instance. One way to solve this would be: Another representation would be to draw using place value blocks. And then of course, there is the basic algorithm which is great for students who have a good conceptual understanding of the concept of  "subtraction." It is a quick and efficient method to get to the answer.     600 -  148     ______ I understand the importance many teachers place on this last...

In this series, we will discuss how we can design lessons for conceptual understanding. Having recently completed an upskilling course with IB, I felt we may all benefit from looking at some of these strategies and how they might look like in our PYP classrooms. Strategy 1: Classification    Source: Ibo.org In this post, I will be focusing on the research-backed strategy, "classification".  Chadwick (2009) highlights that classification helps develop conceptual understanding by allowing students to organize information, recognize patterns, and understand relationships among concepts.  Here are some examples across several disciplines on how I have used tools to classify. Math Class 1) In my math class (Grade 3) instead of having students simply rote learn the names of the shapes and their properties, have them sort the shapes  based on the number of sides, angles and symmetry. Even better, use the Concept Attainment Strategy (I keep returning to this strategy be...

  Have you ever considered what math anxiety may look like in your classroom? As I prepare to begin my lesson, handing out notebooks or math prompts, I look around and observe my students. As the lesson progresses, I continue to look around and monitor their behaviour. Are there some students who take time to settle down or start to talk about  things completely unrelated to math? Does one student ask to go the washroom? Or maybe complain about a stomachache or a headache? Is there a student who may start crying or become angry and indulge in negative self talk? "I am dumb." or "I can never get this right!" and so on and so forth. The more subtle symptoms : Is a student being being extra chatty, taking time to settle down, obsessing about the answer, refusing to answer questions, seldom asking for help, hurtling through work or showing a reluctance to work with others.  A broad categories these symptoms would look like this: cognitive difficulties emotional distress...